Former military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida yesterday said he could fight another war to defend Nigeria’s unity having done so previously.

Babangida said this yesterday in Abuja while speaking as Chairman of the Occasion at the 9th Daily Trust Annual Dialogue, organised by Media Trust Limited, publishers of the Trust newspaper titles.
“You see in this country we fought the war for almost three years for the benefit of living together. I have a bullet in my body, so nobody will talk to me about secession or breaking away. If you do, I would always say yes, get my tailor to take my measurement, get on my khaki and go back to fight a war to keep this country together even at 71. We fought a war before,” the 71-year-old former military ruler said, referring to the Civil War of 1967-70.

Babangida said he fought during the Civil War just to ensure that the country remained united and that he was now ready to join another war for the same purpose.

He was speaking with reference to recent claims by some South-South leaders that there were plots by a section of the country to eliminate President Goodluck Jonathan and that Nigeria would break should anything happen to him.

“Some people are saying that should anything happen to President Jonathan, forget about Nigeria, and so on. I have seen a lot of these. I know those who are saying this. Yes, they are supporters of the president. But I know the president is a sensible person, so don’t waste your time saying that the world would come to an end if something happens to our son. Of course, he is our president and he is your son. He is our president.”

“I have always respected these people. But these things these days amaze me. These are same people that went to school, people who went to universities, people that are educated and people who have held positions of responsibilities,” he added.

Babangida described certain developments in the political life of this country as “Doctrine of Nigeria’s Settled Issues,” and that nobody should attempt to tamper with them. These are Nigeria’s unity, its Republican constitution, the states as federating units and the capitalist orientation of the economy.

“This is what I referred to as Doctrine of Nigeria’s Settled Issues. Number one, I don’t want every one of us to tamper with anything to do with Nigerian unity. Number two, republican constitution is also a settled issue, more or less. Number three, the states are the federating units of this country and number four, we are a capitalist country,” he said.

“Anybody that wants to talk about this country must make sure that he doesn’t do anything that will disrupt these basic settled issues in our political life,” he added. Anybody that is talking about the dismembering of this country, you should not listen to him,” he added.

This year’s edition of the Daily Trust Annual Dialogue was held with the theme “Media and Politics.”

Babangida said the media has a great role in promoting unity and mutual understanding among Nigerians.

“The media has a great role to play. There is need for the media to complement the fundamental struggle and fundamental values that would make us live in peace with one another. They have a role of domesticating our values for the benefit of our country,” he said.

He said there was no conflict between Christians and Muslims in the country as being portrayed by the foreign media and there was nothing like Muslim North and Christian South, as the peoples of the country live together peacefully.


“I believe there will be no conflict between Christians and Muslims, North and South. There is also no such phrases like Muslim North and Christian South. Where ever you go in this country, you will find out that there are Muslims and Christians living peacefully together. You will find out there are Christians in the North and it is the same in the South,” Babangida said.

He urged the media to be vigilant to avoid getting entrapped into false pretences, saying “if we see such things like Christian south, Muslim north, we should disregard it. Even if such people say it, the media should ignore it because you know it is not the truth; so you should not even write it.”

Yesterday’s event was also attended by Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, who represented Senate President David Mark; Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole; former minister of state for Foreign Affairs Dr. Aliyu Idi Hong; Vanguard publisher Sam Amuka-Pemu; and Malam Ismaila Isa.

Also in attendance were representatives of governors of Gombe, Niger, Zamfara and Jigawa states, as well as of Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal.

Academic Abubakar Siddiq Mohammed and a representative of the Information minister presented papers on the theme of the dialogue. Two other paper presenters scheduled for the event did not make it, namely Rageh Omar of Al Jazeera and Fred M’membe of Zambian newspaper the Post.



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At poster no where did IBB ever mentioned killing Jonathan and putting their Son there. You are being sensational. Moderators do your job